


This Isn't How I Imagined

by briewinchester



Series: Love Conquers All [1]
Category: Leverage
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bloodplay, F/M, Implied/Referenced Drug Addiction, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Kidnapping, Light Dom/sub, Physical Abuse, Rape, Rape/Non-con Elements, Restraints, Sexual Abuse, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Attempt, Unplanned Pregnancy, protective!Eliot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-08
Updated: 2015-12-01
Packaged: 2018-01-07 23:41:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 10
Words: 21,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1125761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/briewinchester/pseuds/briewinchester
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This isn't how she imagined her life would be at 18.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this a long time ago and finally got around to editing it. This is my first fic for Leverage and this is the first part of a three part series.
> 
> If any of the above tags are a trigger for you, please, please do not read this. I don't want to cause anyone to hurt.
> 
> Also, there will be lots of babies throughout this series.

Brie Matthews had it all. She grew up in a wealthy home where the word ‘no’ was never told to her or her twin sister, Skye. Their father, Gregory, was a business man in the criminal world. Growing up, Gregory watched his own father make a name for himself in the business and watched him like a hawk, knowing that all this would one day be his. And that day came on his eighteenth birthday. He continued his father’s legacy while also instilling his own for his own family one day. To this day, Brie and Skye have no idea of what their father really did for a living, but they didn’t care as long as they got everything their hearts desired. They went to the best schools, they had the best clothes, they best toys, anything; it was theirs.

When Brie and Skye were four years old, their mother passed away. They don’t really remember her much anymore. Only what they’ve seen in pictures around their house. After her passing, their father tried to spend as much time with the girls as he could, but they always ended up in the care of a nanny.

It’s now twelve years later and they are living in London. Growing up, Brie and Skye have always been rebellious. Both of them have acquired criminal records for breaking and entering. Skye had more counts of robbery, assault & battery, and breaking & entering. Brie, however, also had charges for assault & battery, but her biggest reoccurring charge was for underage solicitation.

Skye was talking with her sister on a crisp, autumn day. “Are you coming home tonight? If you aren’t, I need a story to feed to dad.”

Brie looked at her sister with a smile. “Yeah I’ll be home, but probably after dinner time.”

Skye nodded her head and walked away. “Kay.”

Brie watched her sister walk to her car and drive off. She sighed and started walking down the street. Little did she know, she was being watched.  Damien Worthington, criminal extraordinaire, knew all about the famous Brie Matthews, daughter of Gregory Matthews; the biggest and most feared crime lord in the world. He sat in his limo parked across the street and gave the signal. Eliot had been working undercover for Worthington for almost six months now. He and his team were trying to bring Damien down for drug and human trafficking.

Eliot exited the car and looked around to make sure there were no witnesses and walked up behind Brie, grabbing her and placing his hand over her mouth. He ran back to the car and shoved her inside and got in, closing the door behind him. Brie was in complete panic mode. She had no idea what was going on or why she was here. Brie considered herself to be a strong, confident person and could handle herself, but right now, she felt terrified and vulnerable. She was hugging the door, curled in on herself. Brie had no idea who these people were, so she didn’t fight back like she normally would have because one look at the guy beside her made her think twice about it.

Damien looked at his new prey with a predatory smile. “Hello Brie. I’ve waited a very long time to meet you.”

Brie looked over at the guy who spoke. “How do you know who I am? Who are you? I want to go home.” Tears started to fall down her face.

Damien laughed darkly at her. “Oh darling, you are never going home. I own you now and there are rules that you will obey or face the consequences. Is that understood?”

Brie looked at him defiantly. “No, I want to go home. Right. Now!”

Again, Damien laughed. “Oh you’re going home alright. Just not to the home you remember.”

Now Brie started to tremble and began to cry uncontrollably. Eliot was watching her out of the corner of his eye and felt kinda bad for her. This was the part of the job he couldn’t stand. He wanted to get this girl outta there, but he knew that it’ll break his cover and he believed that she held the key to bringing this bastard down. A few minutes later, the car pulled up to a large mansion. Brie, lost in her thoughts, had no knowledge that they had come to a stop until her door was pulled open. She thought that the huge, scary looking guy was going to haul her out of the car, only to find a hand being stuck in her face. She looked at it and then up at the big guy who gave her a small smile. She took his hand and Eliot gently escorted her to the house.

Once inside, Damien turned to Eliot. “Mr. Spencer, take Miss Matthews up to my quarters. Stay with her to make sure she doesn’t run. I’ll be up later to properly introduce myself.” Eliot walked over to the stairs, with Brie in tow, and led her to Damien’s room. The whole time Brie was being led upstairs, she was plotting her escape.

Eliot looked down at her and saw the wheels turning in her head and smiled. “You’ll never make it out the front door.”

She whipped her head up to look at him. “How’d you know?”

Eliot smirked. “I get the same look on my face when I’m thinking of an escape route.”

Brie looked down with a blush on her face. “Sorry, I just want out of here. I don’t like it here. I want my sister. Please, you gotta let me go.”

Eliot really hated that he had to do this. “I’m really sorry, but I can’t let you go.” They finally reached Damien’s room and Eliot opened the door for Brie to enter. She reluctantly entered the room and Eliot followed after her and closed the door.

-*-*-*-*-*-

Nate listened as Eliot retrieved Damien’s object of his affections from Lucile around the block. He turned to Hardison in the back. “Hardison, bring up everything you can find on Brie Matthews will you?”

Hardison typed and sifted through everything he found on Brie Matthews as Nate followed the car in front of them. “Okay, Brielle Charlotte Matthews, daughter of Gregory and Julianna Matthews. She has a twin sister, Skylar Savannah Matthews. Their mother died of cancer when they were four. Their father is a renowned mob boss, continuing his father’s legacy. Brie and Skye are sixteen and they both have records. Both Skye and Brie have breaking and entering charges and assault and battery, Skye more than Brie. And Brie has multiple charges for underage solicitation all at the age of fourteen. Damn, no wonder this Damien guy is so fixated on her.”

Sophie turned in her seat to look at Hardison, a look of surprise on her face. “And why is that?”

Hardison shook himself out of his stupor. “She had her own web show and charged a ridiculous amount for membership or just to watch.”

Parker sat next to him and started pressing buttons, playing one of the videos that were on the screen. Loud moans and squeals came over the speakers and Hardison fumbled around trying to get it to stop. Finally exiting out of the website, he glared at Parker.

“Woman, no touching my com-pu-ter. I don’t know how many times I have to tell you that. Disrespectful, that’s what it is, dis-re-spect-ful.”

“Hardison, that’s enough. Did you find anything else?” Nate asked.

After getting everything in order, Hardison cleared his throat. “Yeah, Damien Worthington had been one of Brie’s biggest spenders. I tracked the amounts of money from the wireless account and traced it back to one of his many accounts. I mean, this dude had it bad. I’m not even going to repeat some of the things he’s said to her because, ew, and they should not be repeated because there are ladies present.”

Nate parked the van a block away from Damien’s house and turned off the engine. “Okay, that’ll be all Hardison. Eliot, this all on you now.”

-*-*-*-*-*-

Eliot stood guard at the door and listened to the conversation going on in his comm as he watched Brie roam around the room. He bowed his head as he thought over the information that swam around in his head. He couldn’t believe that this girl was so… so wild and adventurous. Before he knew all that information, just looking at Brie he saw just an innocent young girl. He looked back up and he didn’t see Brie anywhere in the room. “Dammit!” he started searching the room and couldn’t find her. He put his finger to his ear. “Uh, guys we have a problem. I lost her.”

Sophie shouted in his ear. “Eliot, how could you lose her?! She’s a teenage girl, where could she have gone?”

Eliot growled and started looking again. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll find her.” As soon as he came around the corner, Brie came out of the bathroom and ran right into him. She looked up at him and noticed how handsome he was.

The way his soft, chocolate-brown locks framed his face, how blue his eyes were, and how she loved his five o’clock shadow. Eliot looked down at her and noticed for the first time at how beautiful she really was. She had a face that looked like a porcelain doll. Brie had the most beautiful lips he had ever seen on any woman he’d ever dated. Her hair was a honey blonde and her eyes were a baby blue color. He felt himself smiling at her when he replied, “Whoa. Careful there, darlin’.”

Brie managed to nod her head when she heard his distinctive Southern accent. She walked back into the bedroom and sat down on the humongous bed. Eliot hung back for a few minutes with a silly grin on his face. His smile faded quickly when he heard Hardison. “Dude, one word: jailbait.”

Eliot muttered as he put his comm on mute and went back into the bedroom. When he entered the room, he saw Brie lying on the bed writing something. He sat down at a table and just watched her. Finally, after twenty minutes had passed, he heard her groan in frustration. “C’mon! Why in this lifetime do I need to know algebra?! I’m not gonna be a mathematician!” Eliot chuckled at her outburst. Brie looked over at him and glared. “What’s so damn funny? Huh? I may be really smart, but I just can’t seem to pass algebra.”

Eliot was still smirking at her and walked over to her and sat down on the side of the bed. “Let me see what you are working on and I’ll see if I can help you at all.” she smiled at his generosity and handed him the textbook. Eliot looked at it, growled, and threw the book at the wall. “Stupid math.”

Brie giggled and left to fetch her book. She climbed back on the bed and placed her hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay. I already did these problems. I just wanted to get you to come over here.” she looked at him through her exceptionally long lashes.

Eliot started to smile before realizing that he’s being seduced by a sixteen year old. The more disturbing part, he didn’t seem to care that there’s a huge age gap between them. He felt himself gravitate toward her, like she was a magnet drawing him to her. Their mouths were a few inches apart. “Oh, that was a very sneaky thing you did.”

Brie smiled back at him, closing the distance between them. Eliot knew he should stop, but her eyes were so mesmerizing, it felt like he was under a spell. He closed the last few inches, placing his lips to hers in a chaste kiss and closed his eyes as an electric spark shot down his spine at the contact.

They stayed that way for a few minutes. Eliot took in how soft her lips were. He felt her gasp against his lips and he took the opportunity to swipe his tongue inside her mouth and Brie welcomed him right in. Eliot brought his hand up and tangled his fingers into her soft, honey locks. Brie moaned into his mouth as their kissing became more frantic. She got up and straddled his lap and his hands came up to grip her hips automatically.

Brie had curves in all the right places and Eliot couldn’t help but squeeze her hips. Brie loved the feel of Eliot’s strong hands on her hips; like they belonged there. She bucked her hips into his and she got a sinful sounding moan from deep within Eliot. He moved from her lips to her neck and up to her ear, nibbling on the sensitive spot behind it. She gasped and bucked into Eliot again.

Eliot growled low in his throat. She could feel his hot breath hovering over her ear; she felt a shiver travel down her spine. At that moment, he heard Hardison in his ear. “Eliot, whatever it is you are doing, stop. Worthington is headed toward your position.”

Whatever it was that Eliot was about to tell Brie came out as, “Shit! You have to get off. Worthington is on his way up.” Brie was off his lap within seconds and resumed doing her homework while Eliot got up off the bed, turned his comm back on, and resumed his position standing by the door. 


	2. Chapter 2

Worthington burst through the door and Brie almost had a heart attack. She looked over at Eliot who looked as if the outburst was a normal reaction. She shifted her gaze over to Worthington and he looked pissed. She sat up onto her knees with her hands in her lap. Eliot chanced a glance over at her and had to try really hard to bite back a moan. She looked so damned gorgeous sitting like that. He had to move his hands to the front to hide the boner he was sporting.

Worthington was pacing back and forth mumbling about something. He looked up and over at Eliot. “Mr. Spencer, I need you to go to the basement and grab my big black suitcase.”

Eliot doesn’t want to leave Brie alone with this douche but an order was an order. After he left, Damien turned and looked at Brie. Confusion marred his face at all the textbooks that surrounded his pet on the bed. Damien gestured to the open books. “What is all this crap? And why is it on my bed?”

Brie looked up at Damien. “It’s called homework you fucking moron. I’m still in high school, but you already knew that seeing as that’s where you decided to kidnap me from.”

Damien strode up to her and backhanded her across the face. “That attitude will not be tolerated. If you speak to me in that tone of voice ever again, you’ll get a much worse punishment than a smack to the face.”

Brie held her throbbing cheek and tried to keep her tears at bay. She will not give this freak the pleasure of seeing her cry. A few minutes later, Eliot came back into the room with said suitcase. When he was Brie holding her cheek and the bruise already forming, he wanted to beat the ever living shit outta Worthington, but kept himself restrained.

Worthington thanked Eliot and brought the suitcase up onto the bed. He unzipped it and inside was an assortment of sex toys. Upon further inspection, there was also a bunch of clothing. Damien looked at Brie. “Now here are the rules. If you obey them, you’ll get rewarded. Disobey them and let’s just say you won’t like the consequences. Rule number one: You will have no contact with your family. Violation of this rule and the consequences will be unpleasant for you, but enjoyable for me. So, if you don’t mind, I’d like for you to hand over you cell phone.” Brie handed over her phone without complaint.

Damien smiled. “Good. Rule number two: you will finish your schooling but under my watchful eye. I will have private tutors come in three times a week. And if I find out that you fail anything on purpose, well, let’s just hope it doesn’t come down to that shall we?”

Brie opened her mouth to say something, but closed it, still feeling the throbbing in her cheek. She wrapped her arms around her middle and couldn’t bear to look up at this psychopath.

Damien shifted his weight. “Rule number three: when you are out with me in public, you will wear these clothes and this is not up for discussion.” he pulled out a pile of clothes that barely covered any inch of skin.

Brie looked at the clothes and gave a slight nod, which meant she didn’t hate them. As Damien continued to stare at her, he got a wicked glint in his eye. “Rule number four: you will sleep in my bed, no questions asked. You will give me sex whenever I want it, and you are to sleep naked every night.”

Eliot didn’t know how much more of this he could listen to. He just wanted to punch this guy’s lights out and be done with this entire operation. Brie looked like she was about to protest again, but closed her mouth.

“Good girl.” Damien smiled. “This brings us to my final rule. Rule number five: this is not up for debate either,” he reached into the suitcase again and pulled out a diamond studded piece of leather. “This is to be worn at all times. The only exception is when you are bathing.”

Brie looked up at the leather and then up at Damien. “And what the hell am I supposed to do with that?”

Quick as a flash, Damien had struck her a second time on the same cheek. “Enough back talk. This, if you must know, is your collar. It is to be worn to show that you are my property. Violation of this rule is ten lashes on the back.”

Brie looked at the many assortments of whips he had in his suitcase. She winced when she thought of the damage each one would do to her delicate skin. Damien stepped closer to her and leant forward to put the collar on. He stepped away and turned towards Eliot. “Make sure she puts her clothes and books away and that she gets cleaned up for dinner.”

Eliot nodded his head and watched Damien walk out of the room, the door closing behind him. Once Brie heard that door close, the floodgates opened and her face was drenched in a matter of minutes. Eliot ran over to her immediately and put his arms around her.

Brie buried her face into Eliot’s neck as soon as she felt his arms around her. “I want to go home. I don’t like it here. Please, just take me home.”

Eliot’s heart broke at this poor girl’s cries. “I wish I could darlin’. Just hang in there for a little while longer and I promise I’ll get you outta here.”

Every day she heard that same empty promise from her secret lover for the next two years. Every day, Eliot would watch her get beaten, comfort her after the repeated rape from Damien and his goons, and be flaunted around like piece of meat in a den of hungry wolves. Every night, Brie found herself in the arms of the only man who ever made her feel like a person, who made her feel loved, safe, cherished and beautiful; most importantly, like herself.

After each incident, Eliot would make the memories of Damien go away. He would clean up her wounds after she would get a beating for no apparent reason. Eliot was the only one who got to see her cry. She never gave that psychopath the pleasure of seeing her break. The week before Brie’s eighteen birthday, Eliot made love to her for the first time. He wanted to wait for her actual birthday, but she needed him to make her forget the horrible day she had. Eliot positioned himself between her spread thighs and leant down on his forearms and kissed her.

Brie opened up immediately for him, inviting his tongue into her mouth. Eliot propped himself up on one arm and skimmed the other one down her side to her thigh and gently bent her leg. He reached down between her legs and started massaging her clit. Brie moaned into his mouth and spread her legs open wider in invitation. Eliot pulled away from the kiss and smirked down at her. “Just how flexible are you darlin’?” Brie smiled and spread her legs much wider in lieu of an answer.

Eliot settled himself at her entrance and lined up his dick before slowly pushing inside her. Brie moaned as she felt her lover pushing into her for the first time. Eliot finally sheathed himself fully inside her and he gave her some time to adjust to his girth. Brie was breathing heavily, barely even started and she’s all worked up. She knew that she was underage, but it felt right for Eliot to be inside of her. Brie felt as if she and Eliot were made for each other. She opened her eyes and stared into his blue ones. She could see all the love and protectiveness he had for her in those expressive eyes.

Before she knew was she was doing, she continued looking into his eyes. “I love you, so much. And it terrifies me that he could find out and take you away from me.” she wasn’t going to be one of those girls who cry during sex, but she was becoming very close as her mind wandered back to the first year she was at the house.

-*-*-*-*-*-

**_Year and a half ago…_ **

Brie had been at the house for a little over a month and her mouth had gotten her into more trouble than she could count. Bruised, broken, and in pain; needless to say, Brie was a miserable, depressed woman. Brie wasn’t sure how much longer she could keep doing this. All she wanted was to go home and put this awful place behind her. She hated her life and she just wanted it to stop.

After a particular brutal night, Brie made sure that Damien was asleep before carefully crawling out of bed and tip toed to the bathroom. She found her hidden knife, tears staining her face, determined to end everything. Brie had the knife poised at her wrist when a small voice sparked inside her head; reminding her about Eliot and how he would feel if she were suddenly just gone. She gasped and dropped the knife, hearing the clang of the metal on the tile of the bathroom floor.

Brie covered her mouth with her hands and looked at herself in the mirror. More tears fell down her cheeks as she stared in horror about what she’d almost done. She backed away from the sink counter and ran quietly out of the bedroom and toward Eliot’s room, not caring that she wasn’t wearing any clothes. She got over the initial embarrassment after the first couple of weeks. Brie opened Eliot’s door and slipped inside, padding over to the bed. She stood there for a minute or two, just staring at the look of peace across Eliot’s face.

“Eliot.” her voice broke on the last syllable.

Eliot’s eyes shot open, looking around for any sort of danger before his eyes landed on a crying Brie. He immediately sat up in bed, scooting over to make room for Brie. Eliot immediately pulled her into his arms, kissing the top of her head. “What happened? Are you alright?”

Brie wrapped herself around him and wiped her tears off on his tank top. “It’s nothing. I’m okay now. Just a bad night is all and needed to see you.”

Eliot rubbed his hand up and down her back soothingly. He hated seeing her like this, but there was nothing he could do right now. As he held her, he silently promised her that he would get her away from here as soon as he possibly could.

-*-*-*-*-*-

Eliot looked into her eyes and saw fear, anxiety, vulnerability, but the one emotion that shone the brightest was love. He smiled down at her. “I love you too.”

That being said, he pulled out and pushed back in. Brie closed her eyes in ecstasy and gasped. Eliot kept his slow pace as he started to devour her neck. Brie turned her head and whispered in his ear. “Eliot? I’ve felt a lot of things in my lifetime, but this is different from all the rest. Is this what love feels like?”

Eliot left her neck to look into her eyes. He’s only felt this feeling once in his life and he never thought he’d get to feel it again.  “Yes darlin’. This is what love feels like.”

She smiled at him. “Good, because I want to feel like this all the time.”

Eliot smiled back at her and went back to kissing her neck. Brie started to feel a heat in her lower stomach and told him, “Harder baby. I’m so close.”

Not being able to deny her anything, he picked up his pace and moaned into her neck. She started bucking her hips up to meet his, forgetting about the pain she’d been in earlier. Eliot growled into her ear when he felt her start to take part.

“Harder, please.” she moaned.

Seeing as she asked so nicely, he felt compelled to acquiesce to her request. The room was filled with the sounds of heavy breathing and skin slapping against skin. Brie was out of her mind with need and Eliot knew what to do. He reached down between them and put just the right amount of pressure of on her clit. Brie arched her back and came all around Eliot. He felt her inner walls contract against him and that feeling brought on his own orgasm.

He collapsed down onto the bed beside her and they were trying to get their breathing under control. Brie laid her head on Eliot’s chest and asked, “Why haven’t you taken me away from here yet? I miss my twin sister like crazy and my father, but only a little bit. He probably doesn’t even know I’m gone and Skye probably thinks I’m dead.”

Eliot ran his fingers through her hair, contemplating whether to tell her the truth. He really hoped that Nate wouldn’t give him too much flack for this. “I’m undercover. My team and I are trying to convict this guy of drug and human trafficking. I didn’t think it was going to take this long. He covers his tracks pretty damn well.”

Brie felt a pang of hurt clutch around her heart and rolled away from Eliot, trying to hide her tears. “So, our whole relationship, was that part of your operation? All of this, it was a lie? Were you using me? I can’t believe I let myself fall for you.” she threw the blankets off her and stood up. Before she could step away, Eliot had a hold of her wrist, asking her to wait.

Brie paused, hand covering her mouth, trying to quell her distress. Eliot knelt behind her, gently touching her shoulder, relived that she didn’t shrug him off. “Our relationship was never in my plans and it’s the best thing that could ever happen to me. My feelings for you are one hundred percent genuine. I could never use you. I’m sorry that I had to lie to you, but this,” he kissed her shoulder, sliding his lips up to her neck. “Is all me. I really do love you Brielle. I hope you can believe that.” he whispered against her skin.

Brie listened as the tears cascaded down her cheeks. She knew in her heart of hearts that he was telling the truth. She gasped at the feeling of Eliot’s dry lips against her smooth skin. She slowly turned around and cupped his face and stared into his eyes. She whimpered before pulling him into a passionate kiss and nodding against his forehead. “I do, I do believe you. I’m so sorry for doubting you. Love you, love you so much.”

Eliot pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her and laying them both down on the bed; pulling the covers over them both. Brie smiled and cuddled into Eliot’s chest and fell asleep. Eliot stayed awake a few minutes longer, just watching as she slept, before he too fell into a dreamless sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Brie’s birthday came and went with Eliot the only person who got her a present. The only thing she received from Damien was more scars and bruises. Eliot handed her a small black box and when Brie opened it, she almost screamed and fainted at the same time. Inside the box was a beautiful diamond engagement ring. She looked at Eliot with tears in her eyes. Eliot took the box and pulled the ring out. “Now before you get all excited, for now it’s just a promise ring. After all this dies down, I’ll propose all official like.”

Brie doesn’t care, but then her smile faded. “I can’t wear it. He’ll know and I’ll get punished and you’ll probably get fired.”

Eliot put the ring back into the box. “Which is why I’m saving it for when we’re out of this awful place.”

Brie threw her arms around him and gave him a kiss. After that night, everything went back to business as usual. Brie went back to being the personal punching bag/sex slave for some possessive douche bag and Eliot and his team continued trying to bring him to justice.

-*-*-*-*-*-

Frustrations were running high for the rest of Leverage Inc. Nate kept pushing his team to their limits and everyone was running on fumes. Hardison couldn’t live off of gummy frogs and orange soda for very much longer. Parker kept running off to stave off her boredom and Sophie kept trying to keep them all from killing each other. Living in such small quarters like they’ve been for the past two years, everyone literally was going insane.

Eliot escaped the house for a bit and entered Lucile, hoping for the hundredth time that Hardison found something. “Please, tell me that you have something so we can get Brie out of here?”

Hardison shook his head. “Sorry man. I know you love this girl, but Damien is good. I can’t even hack into his systems. I’ve tried everything in my arsenal to get passed his firewall and nothing. We’re gonna have to have Brie help us if we want any results.”

“No.”

“Eliot, I know you don’t want her involved, but she already is.”

“I said no. Dammit Hardison! Just find the damn evidence and leave Brie out of it!” Eliot shouted.

Hardison held up his hands in a sign of surrender. “Alright, alright. Sure thing. I’ll keep trying.”

Eliot nodded and left them to it, heading back into the house.

-*-*-*-*-*-

Over the past month and a half, Brie had felt ill. She hoped that she wasn’t coming down with something because Damien would find some way to blame her and then dole out a punishment. She’s come to realize that Damien really didn’t need a reason to punish her and mainly did it just because he felt like it. Brie managed to hide her sickness pretty well, but one night, she just couldn’t hold it back. During one of Damien’s little marathon sexcapades, Brie felt the beginnings of her stomach twisting up in knots and bile rising in her throat.

She managed to push Damien off and ran to the adjoining bathroom and bowed over the toilet and puked her guts out. Brie stayed there for a few minutes, making sure she really was finished, and stood. She spent a few minutes brushing her teeth and to calm her still rolling stomach before going back into the bedroom. Once she settled back on the mattress, she was met with a backhanded slap. Brie let out a sharp gasp and immediately placed her hand on her aching cheek, hissing at the burst of pain. She looked over at Damien, a look of uncontrolled fury on his face. “Don’t you ever do that again. Do you understand me?”

Brie looked away from him. “Yes. I’m sorry Master.” Damien smacked her once more before he turned over and went to sleep. It kept happening over the next few days and the right side of her face was one massive bruise. Needless to say, Eliot was pissed when he saw it. The next morning, Brie didn’t get out of bed and waited for her personal maid to set down her breakfast and leave. She drug herself out of bed and ate what she could before she got dressed and headed downstairs. Brie knew that Damien had meetings all day so she was relieved of her ‘duties’ for a bit. When she got downstairs, she noticed Damien’s office door ajar. Curiosity getting the best of her, she slunk over to it and listened in.

Immediately, she recognized Damien’s voice and the others she didn’t.  “What do you mean you lost my drugs?! How is that even fucking possible? You need to get off your lazy ass and go find them, now!”

Brie scurried away from the door to hide when she heard feet walking toward the door so she wouldn’t get caught. When she was sure the man was gone, she resumed her position at the door to get more information.

“Now, I have to take a business trip out to Russia. I am meeting with Sergei about my newest shipment of girls. I’m leaving the whore here as well as Eliot. He will make sure that everything is running smoothly while I’m gone.”

Brie heard papers being shuffled and then stuffed into a drawer and locked. She then heard Damien start speaking again. “Steve, get my flight ready for tomorrow afternoon to Moscow. Make sure everything is in order.” Brie mentally cheered when she heard she was staying behind. She really didn’t want to go to Russia and have everything become even worse. Brie couldn’t wait to tell her findings to Eliot and maybe this whole nightmare will finally come to an end. She left the area with a smile on her face and walked out to the backyard.

It was a beautiful day and she could do with some fresh air. Brie only had to wait until tomorrow afternoon and she will be free of Damien Worthington, at least for a while. Damien came out of his office and saw that Brie was lounging out on the patio by the pool. Brie had fallen asleep and Damien had a fond look on his face. He went outside to join her. Brie startled awake at the sound of the door opening. Damien looked at her sheepishly. “Sorry that I awoke you Princess.”

Brie had to force herself to not visibly cringe at the pet name. “I was just resting my eyes for a moment Master.”

Damien smiled at her and brushed her cheek. “I have some news for you. I am going out of town on business and as much as I would love to take you with me, I can’t. So, you are going to stay here and I want you to be a good girl for Eliot. Do I make myself clear? If I find out that you were causing trouble, well, let’s just say that you won’t like it when I return.”

-*-*-*-*-*-

Eliot spent most of the day with the others, trying to figure out their best course of action. And now that Eliot and Brie are together, he was adamant on not letting her be a part of this operation. It was bad enough that she was being used by this psychopath and he’d like to refrain from further usage. He could barely concentrate on what was being said because his mind kept drifting to Brie. She hadn’t been acting like herself this past month and it upset him.

He thought over her behavior. She was more irritable than normal, she complained about her stomach and barely kept anything down and don’t get him started on her ever changing moods. He didn’t know what to do so he talked to Sophie.

“Oh, Eliot. It sounds like she might be pregnant.”

Eliot stood there, frozen. He stared at the wall over Sophie’s shoulder, thoughts racing through his mind and his heart beating relentlessly against his chest.

Sophie waited for his system to reboot before grabbing his attention. “Eliot, hey, look at me. Everything is going to be fine, alright. Don’t panic. Brie’s probably more terrified than you are.”

Eliot looked into Sophie’s eyes and felt calmer at the motherly look he found there. The tension bled out of him as he sighed. “What do I do? I’m not father material. Dammit Sophie, I’m not even relationship material!”

Sophie stepped into Eliot’s space and placed her hands on his shoulders. “And yet you basically asked her to marry you! You can do this Eliot. Trust me on this. That girl loves you and you love her. Don’t throw away two years of a good thing because now you decide that it’s too much for you. Don’t you dare run away from her.”

Eliot hung his head, feeling properly chastised. “Thanks Sophie. I’m gonna go take a drive, clear my head.” And with that, he left the house and drove off.

Sophie bit her bottom lip and called for Parker. “Parker, I need you to do me a favor. I need you to go to the store and buy a home pregnancy test and take it to Brie. Also, I want you to stay with her and make sure you stay out of sight.”

Parker mock saluted and took off.

Nate walked over and stood next to her. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

“So do I.” she whispered.

-*-*-*-*-*-

As the day progressed, Brie hadn’t seen or heard from Eliot all day. She was getting worried. She barely ate any lunch and by the time dinner rolled around, she couldn’t eat a thing without it coming back up. She was lying down on the bed, curled around a pillow when the door creaked open. Immediately, she tensed, hoping that it wasn’t Damien. She so could not deal with his shit right now.

Brie didn’t hear any noise when whoever it was walked in. Curiosity getting the better of her, she turned over on the bed and came face to face with a young blonde woman. She tilted her head in confusion, never seeing her before. “Can I help you?”

Parker walked right up to her and thrust the paper bag into her face. She didn’t know what to say, so she just went with it. “I’m a friend of Eliot’s and that is for you.” she said pointing at the bag.

Brie perked up at the mention of her boyfriend. “Speaking of Eliot, have you seen him at all today? I have some really important news to tell him.”

“I saw him about an hour or so ago after he talked with Sophie. Then he left.” Parker said.

At hearing this, Brie visibly deflated. Remembering the paper bag in her hands, she opened it and pulled out the contents. She frowned at the box; face contorted in confusion. A pregnancy test. Why in the hell would she need a fu--oh no. No. Nononono. This cannot be happening. Oh God. She couldn’t be. Could she? Brie gripped the box tightly in her hands as she freaked out. **_‘Oh God! Did that fucking psychopath get me pregnant?!’_** she thought to herself.

Her chest felt tight and she couldn’t breathe. She felt dizzy and black spots were crowding in at the edges of her vision. Her knees went weak and she would’ve hit the floor if there weren’t arms wrapping around her, keeping her upright. Brie went lax in the arms holding her, still struggling to breathe.

Parker gently lowered them to the floor, coaxing Brie to breathe. “Okay, shh. Brie, you need to calm down and start to breathe. Can you do that with me? Breathe in and out. Good, that’s very good. Do it again. Breathe in and out.” They did that for a few minutes until Brie felt more in control. She steeled herself and stood, taking the test to the bathroom.

Once the bathroom door was shut, Parker got on her comm. “Eliot, you need to get back to the house. Brie needs you.”

Hearing that, Eliot turned his car around and sped as much as he could back to Damien’s. “What happened? Did Damien get ahold of her?”

Parker sighed. “No. She just _needs_ you, like in a supportive boyfriend kind of way.”

Eliot sagged in his seat with relief. “Alright. I’ll be there as soon as I can. Parker, stay with her until I get there. I don’t want her to be alone.”

Parker nodded and then realized Eliot couldn’t see it. “Right. On it.” she looked around the room as she waited for Brie to come out of the bathroom.

Brie bit her nails and paced the bathroom as she waited for the ten minutes to be up. Finally gathering the courage, she walked over to the sink and peered down at the little white stick. Tears streamed down her face as she stared down at the digital screen. **_Pregnant._** She looked down at her still flat stomach and an overwhelming hatred came over her. She just wanted to claw that growing _thing_ inside of her out. As quick as it came, the hatred and anger left and was replaced with a sadness she’s never felt before.

A thought then occurred to her. What if it belongs to Eliot? A sliver of hope and happiness entered her chest as she dwelled on that thought, but what if it’s not? Doubt plagued her mind and she was all sorts of confused and upset. Brie tossed the stick into the trash, making sure to hide the evidence away from Damien. God knows what that man would do to her if he ever found that. She went back out to the bedroom, still looking a mess, and sat down on the edge of the bed.

Parker went and sat down next to her, just silently telling Brie that she was there. Brie put her hand over her mouth, trying to hold back the sob as tears flowed down her face again. Parker started rubbing her back, letting her get it out.

Eliot pulled back into the house and ran upstairs to Damien’s bedroom where he found Parker comforting a crying Brie. Eliot walked closer, motioning for Parker to move and he took her place. Brie threw herself into Eliot’s arms when he sat beside her and cried into his neck. Eliot caught her and held her close, stroking her hair and soothing her.

Parker quietly left the room, leaving them to talk.

Eliot tried to calm her, encouraging her to tell him what was wrong.

Brie finally stopped crying and looked into his eyes. “I’m pregnant. And what scares me the most is that I don’t know if it’s yours or Damien’s.”

Having gotten over the shock of this possibility, Eliot looked at her and noticed that she was scared shitless. “Hey darlin’, its okay. We’ll figure this out, don’t worry okay?”

She nodded and tried to get herself under control. “Okay. We’ll have time to talk more about it tomorrow. Damien’s going out of town for a while and I’m not going. And he’s leaving you in charge.”

Eliot was curious to know how she knew this. “How do you know that? And where is he going?”

Brie wiped away the rest of her tears. “I heard him talking about it earlier today. He’s going to Moscow to meet with a man named Sergei about his new shipment of girls.”

Eliot sagged in relief and got on his comm, smiling like a loon. “Hardison, did you hear all of that?”

Hardison snorted back into the comm. “Yeah, I hear everything. I heard everything about your love affair these last two years up until now with all your baby daddy drama and about Damien leaving the country. And let me tell you, it’s gonna take a ton of brain bleach to wash my innocent little brain of all those images it imagined of you two, okay, just ew.”

“Shut up Hardison!” Eliot said through clenched teeth.

Brie looked at him, amusement on her face. She leaned up on her tiptoes to talk into Eliot’s comm. “I can’t wait to meet you Hardison. You sound like a lot of fun to be around.” she leant back to watch Eliot’s face at the response he got from Hardison.

She started to giggle and Eliot glared at her, which made her laugh harder. Eliot was about to say something but was cut off by footsteps on the stairs. Eliot ran over to stand guard by the door while Brie went and lay down on the bed.

 

  


	4. Chapter 4

Damien burst through the door and saw that Brie was lying on the bed, her back to the door. He stomped angrily over to his closet, pulling out his suitcase and began carelessly throwing clothes inside. Brie turned and sat up, pulling her knees to her chest. “What’s going on?” she asked, rubbing her eyes, feigning being asleep.

Damien looked back at her. “Change of plans. I have to leave tonight. Apparently, my incompetent assistant, Steve, doesn’t know how to book flight information and I have to leave tonight instead of tomorrow afternoon like I had wanted. God, why is it so hard to find good help these days?”

Damien turned away from his closet and noticed that Eliot was standing beside the door. “Oh good. Just the man that I wanted to see. I’ll be gone for a couple of months, I have some business to attend to out of the country, and I’m leaving my girl behind. With that being said, you are in charge while I’m gone and I’ll be checking in every so often. Be ready and waiting by the phone. I don’t like to be kept waiting.”

Throughout Damien’s speech, Brie had been mocking him and making faces behind his back. Eliot managed to catch one out of the corner of his eye and couldn’t cover up his snicker fast enough. Of course, Damien saw it and instantly his anger arose. “Is this funny to you?”

Eliot tried to stay serious, but Brie wouldn’t relent. Damien grunted at him and turned back around and caught Brie quickly looking down at her hands. His anger steered him toward her and he paused in front of her and petted over her hair, lulling her into a false sense of security before abruptly backhanding her. He grabbed her jaw roughly before jerking her head up to meet his eyes. “If I find out that you are being disobedient in any way, I will not hesitate to come home and give you the punishment that you deserve.” he pointed at her wrists and forearms. “It’d be a shame to have to chain you up and reopen those scars. Do you want me to do that to you again? Maybe this time I’ll just let you bleed out.”

Brie’s eyes widened in fear and the memories from that night flooded her mind. She shook her head no vehemently. “Please, Master. Don’t do that again. I promise I’ll be good.”

Damien gave her a curt nod before he went back to his closet to finish packing. Eliot watched her and hated the control Damien had over her. He hated seeing the fear written all over her face when she came to him. Eliot couldn’t wait for this bastard to make the slightest mistake so he could give him the beating of a lifetime. He wished that Damien would hurry up and leave so he could take care of his girl.

Finally, Damien emerged from the closet; three suitcases filled to the brim with clothes. He put his suitcases by the door and went over to Brie and kissed her good-bye. Brie really hated his tongue violating her mouth, but she let it happen anyway.

Damien left the bedroom and Brie went to the window to watch him leave. She saw him look up at her and wave and she gave him a small wave back. Damien got in the car and it drove off and Brie slumped against the window in relief.

Eliot got on his comm and filled in the rest of the team. “Guys, we got our break. Damien’s gone and I’m gonna clear the house of the rest of the security team and then you can head over.”

Brie listened to Eliot bring his team up to speed and waited until he was finished to walk over to him and pull him into a hot, searing kiss. When she let him go, he looked into her eyes. “What was that for?”

She ran her fingers through his long hair. “I had to get his nasty taste outta my mouth.”

Eliot smiled at her and cupped her injured cheek. “Are you alright?”

Brie leant into his touch only to hiss at the contact. Parker came back into the room, holding a paper bag. “Hey, I brought you some soup, crackers, fruit and a ginger ale. I wasn’t sure if you were still feeling nauseous.”

Brie smiled at her and took the bag, setting it down on the table. “Thanks Parker. That was very thoughtful of you.”

When she opened the soup container and the smell hit her nose, she ran for the bathroom with Eliot right on her heels. He knelt behind her, pulling her hair back, and rubbed calming circles into her back.

Brie cried the whole time she was puking her guts out. She hated throwing up so much. Eliot continued to soothe her, rubbing her back and kissing the top of her head, waiting until she finished. When Brie felt like she was done, she leaned back into Eliot’s strong arms. She didn’t realize she’d been sweating and tried to get up to clean up a bit, but Eliot held on. “No, no. You need to rest. Just relax, I got ya.”

She felt too weak too weak to move. “I feel disgusting. I’m all sweaty and I want to take a shower.”

Eliot kissed her temple. “I know, just relax for a few minutes.”

Parker rocked back and forth on her heels, eyes roaming around the room in boredom. When left to her own devices, Parker felt an itch under her skin to snoop around and touch things. She walked around and began opening drawers, taking small things that looked valuable, reading important papers. She came to Damien’s beside table and opened the drawer finding a leather bound book inside. She took it out and started reading it and smiled because she just found the dirt they needed to bring down Damien Worthington. Parker skipped to the bathroom and looked at Eliot and Brie.

She pulled out her phone and snapped a picture. “Aw, that’s gonna be my new background now.”

Eliot looked up at Parker and growled. “Parker, delete it right now!”

“But I don’t wanna. It’s the only picture I have of you now.” she pouted. Then she got all happy again. “Oh, I’ll set it as your picture for when you call me!”

Eliot was pissed now. “Parker don’t you…”

But he was interrupted by Brie. “Baby, just let her keep the picture. Besides, she’s really happy to have it. Anyway, we do make a cute couple so it can’t be that bad.”

Parker practically jumped for joy and Eliot sighed. “Did you want something Parker?”

Parker had almost forgotten why she came to the bathroom in the first place. “Oh yeah. I found this.” she handed over the book to Eliot and he opened it and began to read.

He smiled and spoke to Nate over his comm. “Nate, we got it. I’ll have the house clear in an hour.”

Brie stared at him but didn’t get the chance to say anything before she was being hauled to her feet. Eliot carried her back into the bedroom and gently laid her down on the bed. He tuned to Parker. “Keep her company. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

He left the room and found one of the security guards. “Hey you! Tell the rest of the team to go home. I’m sending you on vacation with pay.”

The security guard shrugged, seemingly happy with this outcome. “Thanks Eliot! I’ll have everyone out in thirty minutes.” Eliot nodded at him and went back upstairs and he heard laughing coming from the bedroom. He groaned inwardly. He could only imagine what Parker was telling Brie about him.

As he got closer, he could hear other voices coming from the bedroom. He stared to panic and he ran the rest of the way. When he opened the door, he saw the rest of the team gathered around Brie, smiling and laughing.

He looked at Nate. “How did y’all get in here?”

Nate looked at Eliot before pointing toward the window. “Through the window.”

Eliot rolled his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. Didn’t these people know how to wait for a signal? “Anyway, you need to be quiet for the next thirty minutes while the security team leaves.”

Brie looked at all of Eliot’s team members, tears welling in her eyes as she swallowed past the lump forming in her throat. “Thank you.”

Sophie walked over to Brie, taking her hands into her own and giving them a little squeeze. “For what sweetheart?”

Brie tried really hard to keep her tears at bay, but they fell down anyway. “For finally getting me out of this nightmare and for introducing me to Eliot.” she looked over at Eliot and held out her other hand. “I wouldn’t have lasted this long if it hadn’t been for you. I probably would have killed myself after the first year I was here.”

Eliot gripped her hand tight after her confession, closing his eyes tightly shut and resting his forehead to the back of her hand. He kissed over her knuckles before replying. “Don’t tell me stuff like that darlin’.”

Brie gently pulled her hand away from his and cupped the side of his face. “I have to. I can’t keep my feelings in anymore. I seriously considered killing myself that first year. You were barely around then, so you didn’t see the worst of it. I was being selfish, I wasn’t thinking, and I didn’t take your feelings into consideration. I felt disgusting, cheap and worthless; damaged goods. I was in a deep, dark place. I was in a deep depression and I kept thinking about why you wanted someone like me. And why you kept choosing me. I’m not a very good person, but you must see something good inside me when all I can see is darkness.”

She wiped her tears away before taking a few deep breaths before she continued. “After that first year passed was when I came to the conclusion that every time you came to my rescue and taking care of me, that was your way of saying that you really did care about me and what happened to me and that maybe you loved me too. I didn’t fully get it until that night we were together that I knew you truly loved me for me and not as some young girl that needed your protection.”

Eliot didn’t care one iota that his team, his family, were standing right there in that room with him. He gently grabbed Brie by the face and kissed her. Nate, Sophie, Hardison, and Parker were all shocked by the display of emotion and affection coming from Eliot that wasn’t anger or annoyance, which were basically his default emotions.

Eliot pulled back from the kiss, looked Brie right in the eye and asked, “Will you marry me?”


	5. Chapter 5

Everyone waited with baited breath as the entire room was draped in silence; all eyes on Brie. It took Brie a few minutes to register the words in her head before she started crying again. “Yes, yes. A thousand times yes! I will definitely marry you!”

Parker began clapping her hands and jumping enthusiastically. “Yay! I’m getting a sister!”

Eliot turned to look at her, confusion written on his face. “What are you talking about?”

Parker huffed and rolled her eyes, cocking her hip out to the side and rested her hand on it. “Duh, we’re like our own little family; which makes you like the older brother, because you take care of and protect us. Hardison is our middle brother but he also protects us to the best of his ability. And that leaves me as the little sister and Nate and Sophie are like the parents. And seeing as you’re about to get married, I’m going to gain a sister!”

All of them contemplated Parker’s logic, which made sense in a way, and before Eliot could speak, Parker continued. “Oh! And I’m also going to be an aunt! Which will make Nate and Sophie its grandparents!”

Eliot and Hardison had to turn away to keep their laughter at bay after seeing the look on both Nate and Sophie’s faces. Sophie, as expected, was appalled. “Why do I have to be the grandmother? Why can’t I be an aunt? I’m too young to be a grandmother!”

Parker turned toward Sophie, a look of seriousness on her face and stared her right in the eye. “Because Sophie, you act more like our mom than a sister.”

Brie cleared her throat and everyone turned their attention to her. “I love that you all are excited about this baby, but I don’t know if Eliot is actually the biological father or if Damien is.”

Eliot took her hand in his and gently squeezed it. “Don’t worry about that right now darlin’. Technology today has come pretty far.” Brie smiled at him and leaned into his side, feeling a little overwhelmed and tired from the excitement.

Nate stood by the window, watching as the last of Damien’s security team left. He looked back over and saw how distraught this young woman was. He didn’t know all the dirty details about what she went through, but the more he looked at her, he saw how strong she had become despite how scared she felt.

Then he looked toward Eliot. He was still the same, yet different. He would protect this family from anything, as well as his newfound family, and he would do anything in his power to achieve it.

Nate saw how Eliot looked at Brie; the love and protectiveness just poured off of him when he’s with her. He noticed how Brie made Eliot happier and more expressive with words, instead of with violent actions.

He smiled to himself and saw how well they balanced each other out. He walked over to his close nit family and took Brie’s hand in his, looking her straight in the eye. “Whatever it is that you need, I’ll provide you with it. Anything at all, you name it and it’s yours.”

Both Brie and Eliot stared at Nate like he’d grown a second head. Brie started crying again. Stupid hormones. “I don’t know what to say except for thank you.” she wiped the tears from her eyes and looked at Nate. “Actually, there is one thing. I’d like to go home to my sister. I haven’t seen her in two years and it’s been killing me not knowing if she's okay.”

Nate nodded his head. “Of course. Eliot, you will take her there and then you can meet the future in-laws!” he clapped Eliot on the shoulder, grinning knowingly.

Eliot really wasn’t looking forward to that. If he was being honest, he would’ve avoided meeting her family for as long as possible. He wanted to just whisk her away and elope, tomorrow if he could’ve gotten away with it. But he knew that this was important to his fiancée and he wanted to make her happy.

Brie sat up on the bed, reaching up to her neck to remove that god awful collar and rubbed at her neck. “If feels good to finally get that ugly ass thing off. I’m gonna go take a shower while you guys come up with a plan.”

After she disappeared into the bathroom, Nate looked at the rest of them. “You heard the lady.”

Brie emerged from the bathroom thirty minutes later; she was met with so much yelling. As she grew closer, she shook her head fondly. She should have known that it would be Eliot and Hardison disagreeing about something or other with Nate trying, but to no avail, to get their attention.

So, she did the only thing that seemed logical in that moment. She held her head high and marched over to the screaming men and stood in between them and dropped her towel, hands resting on her hips and eyebrow raised, daring anyone to argue with her.

Everyone stared at her in shock, Nate and Hardison trying not to give her the once over, but failed miserably. Eliot recovered first and immediately put the towel back around her naked frame. He glared at her in a what-the-hell manner and Brie shrugged back.

“It got the three of you to stop yelling at each other like a bunch of children fighting over the best toys.”

Eliot opened and closed his mouth a few times, failing to find the words to argue. He shook his head. “Whatever.”

Brie smirked at him, loving that she won this argument, and turned toward Nate and Hardison. “Everything alright there, boys?”

The both of them were still staring at her, mouths agape, and swallowed before nodding their heads. Eliot walked up behind the both of them, smacking them upside the head. Nate looked away and walked back over to where Sophie was openly glaring at him; at least he had the decency to look contrite about staring. He was a man after all.

Hardison, on the other hand, was having a more difficult time tearing his eyes away. Eliot growled from behind the younger man and Hardison instantly snapped out of his reverie. “Uh, sorry bout that. Um, I’m just gonna, yeah.” he walked over to his laptop and started typing randomly.

Brie started giggling and Eliot looked over at her and she was just standing there, staring at him with a mischievous smile on her beautiful face. Eliot walked over to her, wrapping his arms around her waist, before whispering into her ear. “That was a pretty bold move back there darlin’. You really shouldn’t be teasing me while I’m working.”

She buried her face into Eliot’s neck, smiling and nuzzling against his skin. She licked at path up to his ear. “I’m sorry. But the look on your face was just priceless. Are you gonna punish me? I’ve been a pretty bad girl.”

Eliot pulled back to look at her, seeing no signs of fear just playfulness in her eyes. He let a playful smirk cross his face. “I really should, but alas, I have this pesky thing called work to do. Go get dressed. We’ll be leaving soon.”

Brie stuck out her tongue before turning around to head to her closet muttering, “Tease.” Before she got any further away from him, he playfully smacked her ass in warning.

She yelped in surprise as she looked over her shoulder, giving him a coy ‘come hither’ look. She pouted and rubbed her ass when Eliot motioned for her to get moving, rolling her eyes at him before stalking over to her closet.

Eliot shook his head at her before he went over to Nate. “So, do we have enough evidence to hand this over to local authorities? Because I just want to get her out of here and never look back.”

Nate looked at him, thoughtful expression on his face. “Good question. With everything we’ve found so far, yes we can hand this off. But what good would that do if Damien is out of the country. No, we need to get him to come back.”

Eliot was pissed now and was about to start yelling when Brie laid her hand on his shoulder and looked at Nate. “I can get him to come back.”

Eliot turned around to face her, his face red with anger and ready to punch someone. “No, no way. I’m not letting you do that. There’s no telling what he’ll do to you. I can’t—I won’t let you get hurt by that psycho again.” he pulled her into a hug and Brie wrapped her arms around his waist.

“He won’t hurt me anymore because I have you to protect me this time. I’m not going to hide you anymore. If this plan is going to work, I’m going to need you more than ever.”

Eliot hugged her closer to him. “I’m not going to put you in that position again. There has got be a better way to do this. There is a bunch of ways that that plan could go really wrong, very quickly. And if you get seriously hurt because of it, I’ll never be able to forgive myself.”

Brie knew where he was coming from. She was scared shitless about doing this but it was something she really needed to do. Brie snuggled into Eliot’s chest before looking up at him. “Please? If I don’t do this, how will I ever be able to get past it? I need to know that I’m still able to stand up for myself; that I’m still that girl who strikes fear into the hearts of many.”

Eliot looked into her eyes and saw the tears forming there; he knew he was screwed. He closed his eyes and sighed deeply. “Alright you can do it. But under one condition; we wait until he calls first and not before.”

Her tears instantly went away and they were replaced with a bright smile. She stood up on her tiptoes and kissed him. “Thanks baby. Love you.” she disentangled herself from him and walked over to the bed to lay down for a bit.

He bowed his head at the realization of what just happened and looked up when he sensed that someone was behind him. Hardison had a stupid grin on his face as he placed a hand on Eliot’s shoulder, leaning on the other man slightly. “Dude, you just got played.”

Eliot shrugged off Hardison’s hand and walked off grumbling, “Shut up Hardison.”

Eliot walked over and sat on the edge of the bed, listening as Hardison laughed at him. Brie watched the entire exchange take place and tried to stifle her own laughter. Granted, she felt kind of bad about manipulating Eliot like that, but old habits and all that jazz. She crawled up behind Eliot and started to massage his very tense shoulders.

Brie leaned down and murmured in his ear. “I’m sorry for manipulating you like that Eliot. I’ve been that way since I was a child and I don’t know how to turn it off.”

Eliot enjoyed the massage that he’d been getting and raised his hand to thread his fingers in her hair, massaging her scalp. “And I wouldn’t ask you to change that about you. It’s one of your many quirks and I’ve accepted that. It’s one of the many reasons I fell in love with you.”

Parker continued her snooping and found herself in Damien’s closet and came out with a medium sized wooden box in her hands. She walked over to Nate and handed the box over.

Nate looked at her curiously. “What’s this?”

Parker set the box down on the table and opened it, gesturing to what’s inside. “Brie’s not the first girl that he’s done this to.”


	6. Chapter 6

Nate sifted through the box, finding old cell phones with pictures attached of the girls they belonged to. Unfortunately, all the girls in the photographs were dead. Nate came to the only phone that didn't have a picture attached and pulled it out before closing the box. He looked at Parker. “Keep the box and the book together in a safe place until we take this man down.”

Parker nodded and walked over to Hardison. Nate walked over to Eliot and Brie and held out her cell phone. She about cried as she grabbed for her phone and turned it on. After it loaded up, she had so many voicemails and text messages from her sister over the last two years. She played one of the voicemails and cried through the entire message. Not from the messages’ content, but from hearing her sister’s voice. Brie thought that she would never hear her sister’s voice ever again.

Eliot watched her and tucked her hair behind her ear. “Are you alright?”

She looked up at him, tears streaming down her face. “Yes. I never thought that I would hear her voice ever again. Can we leave now? I've got to see my sister.”

Eliot looked over to Nate who nodded at him to go. He got up and Brie followed him out of the bedroom and down the hall. Brie was confused but followed him anyway. He opened his door and went over to his bedside table and opened the drawer. He took out the little black box, opening it, and took out the ring and turned around to Brie to place it on her left ring finger. Eliot looked at her and smiled.

“There, now it’s official.”

She smiled back at him and wrapped him up in a hug. Brie let him go and grabbed his hand and led him down to the foyer and the front door. As soon as she saw the door, she froze as the memory of her first and last escape attempt two weeks after she arrived slammed into her.

-*-*-*-*-*-

**_Two years ago…_ **

_After all the excitement of the first few weeks wore off, Brie crept downstairs, listening for Damien or Eliot and bolted for the door. With the gate in her sights, she ran and ran, completely ignoring the sound of an alarm coming from the house. Freedom was in her sights and a smile broke out on her face when all of a sudden, she found herself looking up at the sky and her whole body jolting and writhing on the ground._

_In the back of her mind, it registered somewhere that she was screaming and clawing at her neck where the pain was migrating from. After what felt like hours, the pain finally stopped and tears rolled down her face. Gut wrenching sobs wracked her body as the last of the electricity traveled through her. Damien stood over her, smirking, before he knelt down and gently stroked her tear stained face._

_“I told you many times, haven’t I Princess? There is no escaping me. This is your home now and you’ll do what you are told.”_

_Brie closed her eyes, a few more tears falling from them, and reluctantly nodded her head in acceptance. “Yes Master.”_

_Damien smiled as he stood back up. “Oh and in case you haven’t guessed already, I made sure to install an invisible fence system around the property. I had your collar specially made to give you an electric shock in case something like this happened.” he bent over and gripped her hair in a tight grip before dragging her behind him and inside the house._

_Brie clawed at Damien’s hand in her hair as she kicked and screamed all the way inside. Voice already hoarse, Brie tried with all her might to get Damien to stop from going down to the basement. He looked down at her. “You brought this on yourself, Princess.”_

_The tears continued to fall down her face as the door that caused her so much pain continued to get closer. Brie had no idea what was about to happen once Damien got her behind that door. That alone was terrifying and she renewed her efforts to get away._

-*-*-*-*-*-

Eliot was half-way to the door before he realized that Brie wasn’t at his side. He looked back and saw that she was still frozen at the bottom of the stairs and if he wasn’t looking closely, he would have missed the way she was shaking all over. He slowly approached her, not wanting to cause any more damage, and gently took a hold of her hand. “Brie, darlin’, come on. Come back to me.”

Brie couldn’t hear anything over the sound of her blood pumping in her ears. The longer she stared at the door, the more she was pulled down in her memories and the more vivid they became. Tears started falling down her face and her breathing became labored. Sweat formed on her forehead and a whimper escaped her throat.

As Eliot continued to study her behavior, it dawned on him that she was in the middle of a memory induced panic attack. He gently took Brie’s face in his hands and wiped away the tears. “Darlin’, come on, look at me. Can you do that for me?”

Brie finally looked up into Eliot’s eyes, vision blurred by more tears forming in them. Eliot smiled at her. “Okay that’s good, very good. Listen to me very carefully, you need to calm down and breathe. Follow me, okay?”

Brie nodded her head and mimicked his breathing pattern. After about ten minutes, she finally calmed down enough to where she could talk to Eliot. He continued to stroke her cheeks as he waited for her to calm down further.

“What was that all about?” he asked softly.

Brie took a shuddering deep breath. “Two weeks after I got here, I tried to run away.” At his smug look, she rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah you told me so. But I’m a stubborn girl. Anyway, you were out running some errands for Damien, so it was only me and him here alone. I wasn’t really sure where he was exactly, but there was no one around and I just bolted for the door. All of a sudden, an alarm sounded and of course, I didn’t pay it any attention because I just wanted to get out of there. So I kept running and when I reached the front gate, I started screaming as I clawed at my neck where I felt the most pain.”

She paused for a minute as more tears fell down her face before continuing. “My body felt like it was on fire from all the electricity flowing through it. It finally stopped and Damien came outside and just stood over me, smirking. He squatted down and stroked my cheek before telling me that he installed an invisible fence system around the property. My collar was specially made to give me an electric shock if I tried to run.”

Brie looked back up into Eliot’s eyes, not remembering lowering them. “After that, he took me back into the house, dragging me by my hair, and down to the basement. I had no idea what he was going to do to me and I was terrified. Damien put my wrists in chains that were attached to the ceiling and tore my top off before taking a whip to my back. After that traumatic experience, I’ve been so scared of going out that Damien literally had to drug me so he could take me out with his friends.” But what she refused to tell Eliot was how codependent she had become to the drugs. Brie never even told him about her drug experimentation a few years ago. And he’ll never know if Brie had anything to say about it.

Eliot listened as she told her story, his anger for Damien growing beneath his skin, and watched her; noticing at how much calmer she became as her fear was put out in the open. He moved his hands from her face down to hold her hands again and slowly led her to the door. He kept his eyes focused on hers and wouldn’t let her look away from him.

As they approached the door, Eliot stopped and opened the door. He looked back at Brie and saw the look of fear enter her eyes and felt her hands shaking in his own. Eliot gave her hands a gentle squeeze. “Listen, I know you’re scared but we need to go through the door. I’ll be with you the whole way, every step, and I promise you that nothing is going to happen to you. Do you trust me?”

Brie let go of Eliot’s hands to bring them up to frame his face. “Yes, I trust you with my life.”

Eliot smiled at her and took her hands in his again. He led her out the door, keeping his eyes on hers, and led her down toward the gate. Brie was still slightly trembling as she stepped over the threshold and her fear continued building the closer they got to the gate. Tears fell down her face again as her heartbeat started pounding against her ribcage.

She felt trapped; she had nowhere to run. They got closer to where the electricity lied beneath the ground and she wanted to run. She had to get out of there and as soon as Eliot stepped past the line, she froze. She ripped her hands out of Eliot’s grasp and fell to her knees, holding her head screaming and crying.

“IT HURTS! Make it stop! Please, make it stop! I won’t run away ever again, just please make it stop!”

Immediately, Eliot was at her side trying to calm her. “Brie, darlin’, look at me. Please look at me.”

Brie kept screaming and crying, not even acknowledging that Eliot was even there. Eliot did the only thing he could think of in that moment. “Nate, I need help! I can’t get her to calm down.” Eliot kept trying to pull her into his arms, but his every advance was thwarted by Brie pushing him away.

A few minutes later, Nate was kneeling beside them and looked at Eliot and saw how distraught he was. “Don’t take it personally. Right now, all she knows is pain and Damien. She thinks you’re Damien and that you just want to hurt her.” Eliot nodded and gave Nate room to work.

Nate knelt in front of Brie, getting in her personal space, and firmly placed his hands on her shoulders. Brie cried out in pain and tried to move away from the hands keeping her still. Nate leant down and got in her face. “Brie, its Nate Ford. It’s alright, I’m not gonna hurt you but you need to CALM DOWN.”

At the sound of the new voice, it registered that it was friendly and instantly she stopped screaming, but the tears still fell from her eyes. Nate smiled at her. “Good, now can you look at me?”

Tentatively, she looked up and stared into Nate’s eyes. He nodded encouragingly at her. “Very good and now look over at Eliot. Do you remember him?”

Brie looked over into the soft blue eyes of her fiancé and nodded her head in recognition, feeling quite embarrassed. Eliot sighed with relief and smiled softly at her.

“Good. Now look back at me,” she did and then Nate continued. “You have nothing to be afraid of. No one here is trying to hurt you and nothing else is going to hurt you any longer. As of right now, those days are over. You don’t have to live in fear anymore. Eliot is going to take you home to your family. He loves you and he won’t let anything bad happen to you.” He waited a beat before asking, “Do you feel better?”

Brie smiled at him. “Yes, I do. Thank you Mr. Ford.” She turned to Eliot, cupping his cheek. “I’m so sorry. I let my mind wander too far and let the fear consume me.”

Eliot shook his head, fondness and relief on his face, as he stood up bringing Brie with him before scooping her up into his arms. “It’s alright darlin’. Let’s get you outta here, yeah?” Before they left, Eliot turned to Nate. “Thanks man, for everything.”

Nate brushed them off and Eliot carried Brie over to his car. He set her down and opened the door and helped her inside and closed the door. He walked around the car and got in behind the wheel, started the car and headed in the direction of Brie’s house.


	7. Chapter 7

Brie watched as the countryside passed her by. She was becoming anxious about seeing her family again after two years of being away and wondered if her sister had changed or if she stayed the same. Then she wondered if her father even knew if she was gone, let alone if he cared about them at all.

These last few years, their father had been paying them less and less attention. They both could’ve committed a murder and their father would not have batted an eye. The closer they got to her home, the angrier she became.

Eliot sensed her change in mood and reached over, grabbing her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. Brie looked down at their hands and then back to Eliot, giving him a sad smile.

“What’s wrong, darlin’?” he asked.

Brie let out an exasperated sigh. “I’m excited to see my sister, I really am, but I’m not as happy to see my father. We haven’t had the best relationship. He probably doesn’t even know that I’ve been missing for two years. He never cared about what Skye or I did. He’s always so wrapped up in his stupid, fucking business or he's in meetings for hours on end. After our mom died, he just threw himself into his work and left Skye and I in the care of nannies.”

Eliot squeezed her hand again. “I’m sorry to hear about your relationship with your father. Every daughter needs her daddy, especially at a time like this.”

Brie smiled at him. “Yeah, maybe he’ll finally pay attention when he hears that he’s gonna be a grandfather and soon to be father-in-law.”

Eliot huffed good naturedly at her and continued driving. Twenty minutes later, Eliot pulled up to Brie’s house and turned off the car. He sat there and stared at it for a few minutes giving a low whistle. “Wow, that’s a really nice house.”

Brie shrugged and waved him off. “You should’ve seen the house we had in Italy. This one is small compared to that one.”

Eliot shook his head, a small smile pulling at the corner of his mouth before he exited the vehicle and headed over to Brie’s side of the car to help her out. As soon as Eliot shut the car door, the front door opened and out walked a young woman, who looked exactly like Brie, and put her hands on her hips looking pissed off.

“Can I help you?” she asked heatedly.

Once Brie heard her sister’s voice, she whipped her head up to look at her twin. Tears streamed down her face as she stepped out from behind Eliot and ran toward her sister. “Skye! Oh my god Skye! It’s me. I thought I’d never see you again.”

Skye squinted at the woman running toward her and she started crying and running. Both girls collided into the other and fell to the ground on their knees, hugging and crying into the other. “Brie! Oh my god, I missed you so damn much!” she pulled back to get a good look at her big sister. “What happened? Where have you been these last two years?”

Brie hugged her sister again. “I’ll tell you later, I promise.” They both stood up and Brie turned back to Eliot. “Right now, there’s someone I want you to meet.” She motioned for Eliot to come closer, taking his hand. “Skye, this is my fiancé, Eliot. Eliot, this is my twin sister Skye.”

Skye looked over at her sister as if she had grown two heads before looking back to Eliot, holding out her hand to shake his. “It’s nice to meet you Eliot.”

Eliot shook her hand. “Likewise.”

Brie laid her head on Eliot’s shoulder and looked at her sister. “Is daddy home?”

“Yeah, he’s in his office. I have to warn you though; he’s not in the best of health. Ever since you disappeared, he took it pretty hard. I’ve never seen him look so lost before.”

At this new revelation, Brie wanted to cry again for talking bad about her father just moments before. She led Eliot into the house and toward her father’s office. She opened up the door while knocking on it softly. “Daddy, may I come in?”

Her father didn’t even look up from the desk, rubbing at his forehead in frustration. “Skye, you know I’m busy and asked not to be disturbed. Can you come back later?”

Brie took a deep breath before stepping into the room and gently closing the door behind her. “Daddy, I’m not Skye. It’s me, Brie.”

Her father froze, before slowly lifting his head to look at his oldest baby girl. He really looked at her before rising from his chair and ran over to her, enveloping her in his strong arms. “Oh my sweet baby girl, you have finally come home! I’m so happy. I thought I would never see you again. What happened to you?”

Brie clung to her father, burying her face in his chest and wept, relishing in the feeling of her father’s protective arms wrapped around her once again. “I’ll tell you and Skye all about that later, but right now I’ve got some important things to tell you first.”

She opened the door and motioned for Eliot to enter and closed it again, taking his hand in hers; lacing their fingers together. “Daddy, this is Eliot and he’s my fiancé.” she held up her left hand, showing off the engagement ring.

Anger bubbled up in her father’s eyes and looked between the both of them. His daughter was only eighteen! And this, this _man_ had to at least be in his mid-thirties! There was no way this was happening. Not if he had anything to say about it. “No, absolutely not; I forbid this. No daughter of mine is getting married; not yet at least and certainly not to someone who is at least twice her age.”

Brie tried to keep her anger reigned in as she worked to calm her father down. “I don’t think that it is your decision to make. You have no idea what I went through these last two years! If it hadn’t of been for Eliot, I wouldn’t be standing here right now!” she ended up yelling, chest heaving from the exertion. She took a deep, calming breath before she continued. “There’s also one more thing I need to tell you.”

Her father, shocked at her behavior, stood before her and crossed his arms over his chest. “And what’s that?” he sneered.

Brie couldn’t believe at how unreasonable her father was being right now. She almost had half a mind not to tell him anything and leave with Eliot. She looked her father in the eye, squared her shoulders, and stood her ground. “I’m pregnant. And here’s the clincher: I don’t know who the father is. It could be Eliot or it could be that perverted bastard Damien’s.”

All her bravado dissolved after her confession and started crying again, leaning into her fiancé’s side. In that moment, Mr. Matthews really saw how scared and vulnerable his daughter was. “Oh baby girl, I’m so sorry. Come here.” he held open his arms for her.

Brie didn’t even hesitate; she ran into her father’s arms, needing the comfort only a father could give her. Mr. Matthews stroked her hair, rocking her gently back and forth, and whispered words of comfort in her ear. Brie finally stopped crying and resumed her position at Eliot’s side. He wiped her tears away and after a few minutes, Brie rolled her eyes.

“Skye, I may have been gone for two years, but I still know when you’re eavesdropping. Just get your ass in here.” she sighed dramatically.

Skye sheepishly opened the door and slipped inside the room looking very annoyed. “Dammit! I’ll never figure out how in the hell you do that!”

Brie laughed at her sister’s expense. “And I’ll never tell.” She gestured to the seats in her father’s office. “How bout we all take a seat and I’ll tell you what happened and where I’ve been the last two years.”

Everyone got themselves settled and waited for Brie to begin her tale. The silence and tension grew around her and Brie found it difficult to come up with the words to start her story.


	8. Chapter 8

Eliot sat next to Brie, grabbing her hand, and leaned over to whisper in her ear. “Take all the time you need. There’s no rush.”

Brie nodded and wiped away her tears. She took a deep breath and continued staring at her hand laced with Eliot’s. “It all started two years ago on a crisp, autumn day. It was after school and Skye and I were talking.”

Skye interrupted. “I asked you if you were coming home or if I needed to make up a story for you.”

Brie nodded her head. “I smiled at you and said that I would be home, just not until dinner. After we hugged and said our good-byes, I started walking towards Scott’s house.”

Her father visibly cringed at that name and Eliot looked confused. “Who’s Scott?”

Brie panicked. There was no way that she was going to say that he used to be her drug dealer and sometimes fuck buddy. So she did what she does best; she lied.

Brie calmed herself before looking over at Eliot, patting his knee with her free hand in a placating gesture. “He was just a friend of mine.”

Skye snorted at her answer. Skye knew her sister and she knew that Scott was into drugs. Where do you think she got hers from?

Eliot turned his attention to Skye, hoping for more answers. “Was he more than ‘just a friend’?”

Skye laughed a humorless laugh. “If you want to call a twenty-three year old drug addict a ‘friend’.”

Brie glared daggers at her sister. Skye had no business airing her dirty laundry. “That’s enough Skye. All that’s in the past now.”

_‘And thanks to Damien, I’m even more hooked now than I was before.’_ Brie thought to herself morosely.

Skye shrugged her shoulders and crossed her arms over her chest. “What, he asked and I gave him an honest answer.”

Eliot sat on the couch, pondering over all he’d been told, before turning to look back at Brie; hurt in his eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me about him?”

Brie rolled her eyes, hoping her fear and panic weren’t showing in them. “Because Scott meant absolutely nothing to me! He was convenient when I needed to let off a little steam, okay? It’s not like I saw him every day; just once or twice a month, depending on my mood that day.” she shrugged like it was no big deal and it really wasn’t.

Her father was furious and stood abruptly from his chair, pacing the room before he pointed an accusing finger at his oldest daughter. “Were you selling yourself again?! Have you learnt nothing from the first time?!”

Unfortunately for Eliot, he knew exactly what Mr. Matthews was talking about but had to play dumb for appearances sake. “Again? You mean that this has happened before?”

Before her father or sister could say anything about it, Brie intercepted the question. “Sweetie, I’ll tell you that later. That’s not what’s important right now, okay?” Eliot nodded his head as Brie continued her story.

“Anyway, I was walking down the street when all of a sudden, I’m grabbed from behind. I get thrown into the back of a car and I see Eliot and some other guy in the backseat with me. Eliot was the one who grabbed me and when I saw him that first time, I thought for sure he was gonna kill me.”

Eliot glared and said in a deadpanned voice, “Gee, thanks darlin’.”

Brie only smiled sweetly at him and patted his knee again. “You didn’t let me finish, but you are kind of intimidating at first. Anyway, I found out that under his intimidating exterior, he is a complete sweetheart. He’s caring, kind, loving, funny, very protective of those he loves, and just a big ole teddy bear.”

Eliot tried to keep up his intimidating façade, but failed miserably as he felt a faint blush staining his cheeks.

Skye thought that was the most adorable thing she’d ever seen. “Aw, look at him blushing! How adorable.” she cooed at him.

Eliot gave Skye his most intimidating glare he could muster while Brie patted his forearm, trying to stifle her giggles. “Easy tiger. She may look like a harmless young woman, but she could literally take you down. It’s quite impressive really.” Brie smiled proudly over at her sister.

Skye smirked, leaning back into her own chair, and gave an approving nod in her sister’s direction. “I like this one. We’re gonna get along just fine.”

Eliot smirked right back at Skye. “Oh most definitely. I cannot wait to get to know you better.”

Brie sighed with relief at how well her sister and Eliot are getting along. _‘One family member down, one to go. I can tell that daddy still isn’t convinced about my choice.’_ She thought to herself.

She continued. “Once we started driving, the guy introduced himself as Damien Worthington and he said he’d been waiting a long time for me. I asked him how he knew me and who he was. All I got out of him was his name but not how he knew who I was. I kept saying that I wanted to go home; he said that I was never going home and that he owned me.”

Brie went on to explain about what happened that first night at the mansion, two weeks after, and so on and so forth. “After Damien punished me for trying to run away, he brought me up from the basement. I could barely walk so he left me in the middle of the foyer, facing toward the front door. When Eliot came back a few hours later, he saw me lying there; bleeding, alone and crying.”

She had to stop for a moment to wipe her tears and regain her composure. Eliot knew she was trying to calm herself from having another panic attack, so he took over for her.

Eliot pulled Brie close to his side, rubbing up and down her arm. “I picked her up from the floor and gently carried her upstairs. I took her to my bedroom and cleaned her up. I put her in one of my t-shirts because she was freezing. After that day, she became very quiet. It was unnatural for her to be that quiet. I didn’t fully know the entire story until this afternoon.”

Brie leaned into Eliot’s side, absorbing all the comfort and support she could from him, and opened her eyes to look back at her family. “When Damien took me out with his friends, I would get these massive panic attacks due to my traumatic experience with the gate. He had to drug me in order to leave the house. Before long, that became too much of a hassle and he would host private parties at his house; me serving as the entertainment.”

Brie looked away from them, not wanting to see the look of disappointment and disgust on their faces. “Since that first day at the mansion, Eliot and I started to grow closer. After every party, beating, rape and whatever else Damien decided he wanted to do to me, I always, always felt safe in Eliot’s arms.”

And now came the part that she knew would be the hardest piece of her story to tell. She wiped her face and looked down at her hands. “During that first year, I was nothing but a selfish bitch. I wasn’t thinking of anyone but myself. I found myself in a deep, deep depression that all I could think about was killing myself to finally be free of that worthless piece of shit. I came really close to ending it when all of a sudden, I had an epiphany.”

She paused and turned to look at Eliot as she continued. “I realized that Eliot really, truly loved me. He’s seen me bloody, bruised and broken, but he showed me kindness, gave me encouragement when I needed it, bandaged my wounds and made sure that I was okay. Of course, I would always lie to him, but that’s beside the point. My point is that Eliot saved my life in more ways than anyone ever could and I can never thank him enough for what he did.”

Tears welled up in her eyes as she said this and gave Eliot a shy smile before kissing him briefly. She didn’t care that her family was sitting across from her; all she cared about was the man sitting next to her. When she pulled back, Eliot was smiling back at her and motioned for her to continue her story. Brie turned back to face her family.

“So, I dropped the knife that I stole from the kitchen and ran as quietly as I could toward Eliot’s room. I didn’t care about whether he was asleep or not but I flung myself into his arms and sobbed.” Brie paused and wiped her eyes, feeling all the emotions from that day again.

Eliot smiled softly at the memory and kissed Brie’s temple. “I’m glad you didn’t go through with it. There’s no tellin’ what would’ve happened to me if you had died.”

Brie shut her eyes and leaned into Eliot’s side again, feeling emotionally drained from talking about this. “Me too.”

Skye sat in her chair and listened to her big sister talk about killing herself and that just wasn’t okay with her. Tears streamed down her face as she flung herself at Brie. “I’m glad you didn’t either. I don’t know what I would do without my big sister, even though it’s only by five minutes.”

Brie turned and gathered her baby sister into her arms, shushing her as Brie rocked from side to side. “Shh, Skylar. It’s okay now; I’m here. Not going anywhere anytime soon. Promise.”

Skye buried her face in her sister’s neck and wept, clinging tightly. “Don’t do that ever again okay? I already thought you were dead once and then to hear you say those things….I just—I can’t; just don’t, okay?”

Brie continued rocking her sister and rubbed soothing circles into Skye’s back while whispering soothing words into Skye’s hair. “Hey, it’s alright. I’ll never leave you like that ever again. You’re my sister and you’re stuck with me forever.”

Skye wiped at her moist eyes before moving away from her sister. “Forever and always. Can I stay here while you finish your story?”

Brie nodded and pulled Skye into her side and stroked her hair. “Of course. After I had my epiphany, I never felt the need to pick up a blade again. So, after that, Damien continued to make me miserable whereas Eliot made me the happiest person in the world.”

Mr. Matthews sat there listening, with tears in his eyes, as Brie described the hell that she had gone through. The more she talked of this Eliot guy, the less he found himself hating the man for keeping his daughter alive and safe for the past two years. He leaned forward and held up his hand, interrupting his daughter’s story and turned to Eliot.

“I appreciate what you have done for my daughter and bringing her back home to us, but there’s just one thing that’s been eating at me. So, if you don’t mind me asking, did you have sex with my daughter that first year?”

Brie looked utterly and completely mortified at her father’s bluntness. “Daddy!”

Eliot patted her leg. “No, no, it’s alright darlin’. It’s a fair question.” he looked straight into Mr. Matthew’s eyes. “No. I never let it go past holding hands and kissing until she turned eighteen.” Eliot said honestly.

Mr. Matthews sighed, falling back in his chair with utter relief. “Thanks son, for easing my mind. I now find you a little tolerable and give you permission to marry my baby girl.”

Brie hid her face in Eliot’s arm, completely embarrassed at her father’s behavior, but she also felt relieved that her father had finally come around. And since she was being completely honest here, well somewhat honest, she had to tell her father about what happened before her birthday.

“Actually daddy, Eliot and I slept together the week before my birthday. Please, don’t be mad at him because it wasn’t his idea. It was all my idea. I needed him after that really bad day and that’s what I wanted. Besides, I was well over the age of consent, so there’s really nothing you can do about it.”

Mr. Matthews looked at his daughter and then over at his future son-in-law and laughed. “Son, you’re gonna have your hands full with this one. Welcome to the family.”

Brie genuinely smiled at the full acceptance from her father and finished her story, which included her birthday present that currently sat on her left ring finger. Her and Skye gushed over her ring before Brie told of the rest of the abuse she suffered at the hands of Damien. As she was in the middle of telling them about her finding out about the pregnancy, she paused mid-sentence as her eyes widened. She did the calculations in her head and turned toward Eliot with a huge grin on her face.

Eliot smiled along with her, albeit a little confused. “What is it darlin’?”

Brie leaned forward and planted a sloppy kiss to Eliot’s lips, not caring about finesse; she’s that happy and excited.

Eliot pulled away confused more than ever at her sudden excitement. “What was that for?”

Brie couldn’t stop smiling when she told him, “You’re the father! I can’t believe that I didn’t see it before!”

She got so caught up in Skye as her sister hugged and squealed with delight with her that she never heard Eliot’s shocked, and a little bit of panic thrown in there, “What?”

 

 


	9. Chapter 9

Brie paused in her planning with Skye to look at Eliot, rolling her eyes. “When we were first together, I distinctly remember us not using any condoms. But every time I was with Damien, he was pretty anal about using protection. And if you remember, Damien went out of town for two weeks after we slept together. I just remembered it myself because, me being me, I did something to set the bastard off and I got punished for it.”

A smile formed on Eliot’s face the more he thought about it before it turned into a grimace at the loud scream Parker let out in his ear. “I KNEW IT!”

Eliot put his finger to his ear and turned away, gritting his teeth before he spoke. “Dammit Parker! Could you possibly scream any louder?” he asked, sarcasm dripping off his words.

Parker turned her head to the side and scrunched her face up in confusion. “Probably. Do you want me to try it?” she asked him enthusiastically.

He immediately said, “No! Just keep quiet, alright?”

Brie watched the entire conversation play out before she began laughing. Her father and sister stared at her as if she’d grown another head. “I totally forgot that they could hear everything that’s going on. Let me guess, Parker’s pretty happy about it then?”

Eliot rubbed his hand over his forehead and slowly let out the breath he’d been holding. “Yeah and so am I.”

Skye and Mr. Matthew shared a look of confusion before they simultaneously asked, “Who is Parker?”

Eliot looked at them and took over. “Parker is a part of my undercover team.”

Mr. Matthews sat up straighter in his chair and looked around nervously. He knew one day that one type of government would be coming after him. “Who do you work for? FBI, CIA, NSA, MI6?”

Eliot smiled softly and shook his head. “No, none of those. I work for an independent company called Leverage, Inc. It’s composed of former thieves who help to bring justice to those that have been wronged by corrupted corporations.”

Mr. Matthews relaxed back into his chair and steepled his fingers. “Well now, that’s interesting.” He looked back at his daughter. “So, how did you manage to escape, bambina?”

Feeling very exhausted, Brie relaxed back into the couch and rested her hands on her still flat belly. “Well, it was really fortunate that Damien had to go out of town for business for a couple of months to Moscow. But in order for him to go to prison, I have to lure him back here which means that I’ll have to go back.”

Skye had made herself quite comfortable lounging against her sister and sat up immediately at her sister’s words. “No, no way! I am not letting you go back to that house of horrors! I don’t give a flying fuck that you’re my big sister I’m going in your place.”

Brie looked at her sister with equal fire in her own eyes. “There is no way that I am letting you get anywhere near that fucking creep.”

Skye jutted her chin out in defiance. “It wasn’t open for discussion, Brielle.”

That pissed Brie off. “Skylar Savannah Matthews, I don’t care what the fuck you want. You’re not going back with me and that is final!”

Skye looked at her sister, tears welling up in her eyes. There was no way that she was going to let her sister go that easily. “The hell I am! I already lost you once and thought you were dead. I’m not going to let it happen again. I can’t—I can’t go through that again and know it’s for real this time.”

All the fight and anger left Brie at the dejected and lost look in her sister’s eyes. She sighed and pulled her sister close again, combing her fingers through Skye’s hair. “You don’t understand. This is something that I have to do because I can’t keep living my life in constant fear. I’m having a baby and I don’t want to subject my child to that. I want to go back to the young woman I was before this whole fucking thing happened.”

“Language”, Mr. Matthews admonished his eldest daughter, knowing full well it wouldn’t work.

Brie smirked at her father. “Keep dreaming old man.”

Brie turned back to her sister, still trying to soothe her. “I don’t want to go back to that house of horrors either, but I have to. If not for myself then for my family. I’ve already had this conversation earlier with Eliot.”

Skye looked over at him, eyebrow raised in disbelief. “Oh really? And you told her no, right?”

Eliot sighed and nodded his head. “I did, but she somehow manipulated me into saying yes.”

Skye stared at him blankly before she burst out laughing. “Yep, that’ll do it. I still haven’t quite figured out how she does it and I’m her freaking twin! You’d think we’d share that trait, but no. Ever since we were little, I could’ve sworn that Brie had magical powers or something.” Everyone laughed at Skye’s outrageous theory.

Once the laughter and joking all died down, an air of seriousness fell back over the room as Skye turned her eyes back to Brie. “I’m serious Brie. I want to come back with you. I swear to you both that I won’t get in the way; I just want to get some revenge on Damien before you guys get him arrested. I’ve got two years of pent up anger to let out and I can’t think of anyone better to let it out on.”

Brie was at an impasse. She knew her manipulative charms wouldn’t last with her sister so she let out a deep sigh before shaking her head. “I’m probably crazy for even thinking this and I’m pretty sure I may regret this if anything goes wrong, but you can come with us.” Her eyes lit up in excitement. “Oh! And you’ll get to meet the rest of Eliot’s team!”

Eliot smacked his hand to his forehead and groaned. “Oh boy. This should be interesting.” A sarcastic smile graced his face.

As the hours passed of everyone talking and catching up and making plans, Brie let out a jaw cracking yawn and stretched her arms above her head. “I don’t know about you guys, but it’s been a pretty trying day and I’m fucking exhausted. “ Brie stood, stretching the kinks out of her back from sitting for so long.

Skye quickly stood as well, placing her hand on Eliot’s shoulder to stop him from getting up. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to spend some alone time with my sister. Please?”

Eliot sat back, smiling softly. “No, by all means go ahead. I’ll just get to know my future father-in-law a little more.”

Brie seemed skeptical for a moment before being dragged away by her sister. She looked back at her father and mouthed ‘be nice’ before disappearing. A few silent minutes passed between the two men before Mr. Matthews broke the silence.

He cleared his throat. “I inherited my father’s business when I was just their age. He was killed after building an alliance with a very powerful Family. I’ve been told many different versions of the story, so I’m not really sure what is truth. My mother was too heartbroken to say anything. After that, it was her and I for the longest time. She never remarried, and even though she wasn’t in the greatest of health, I believe that she died of a broken heart; regardless of what the doctors have said.”

Mr. Matthews took a deep breath before continuing. “After my father passed, my mother continued to get worse and as the years went by; she refused to see any more doctors and refused to take any medication. All she wanted was to join my father in death. My mother died three weeks before my nineteenth birthday. After she died, I stayed in Europe while my twin brother left for the United States. I became reckless and started invading rival territories; taking over their businesses, forcing them to work for me, etc. etc.”

He took another deep breath and rubbed his fingers across his forehead, trying to relieve the tension. “A week before my twentieth birthday, I met the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. I was in Italy at the time and trying to gain a pretty big partnership with the local mafia. And just my luck that Julianna Giovanni had to be the boss’s daughter.” He chuckled, lost in the memory.

Eliot sat there, hanging on his every word, listening intently as Mr. Matthews talked about his past. Gregory Matthews took a drink of water before continuing again. “Julie was a few months younger than I and, not to sound too cliché but, it really was love at first sight. And since that day, we were madly in love. I had no intentions of staying in Italy, but after meeting Julie, it became home.”

As Eliot was getting to know his future father-in-law, Brie and Skye had moved to their shared bedroom. Brie had stripped off her shirt and was in the midst of choosing her pajamas, when she heard a sharp gasp come from behind her. Brie paused in the middle of pulling on her tank top and looked over her shoulder at her sister. Brie noticed that her sister’s face was twisted in a mixture of anger and horror. Before she could pull her shirt down, Skye was instantly behind her, carefully running her fingers over the marred skin of her back.

“Oh my god! Brie, I can’t believe someone could be so cruel. Do they still hurt?” she asked her voice shaky with unshed tears.

Brie shook her head and pulled her shirt down before turning around to face her sister. “Not the older ones, but the newer looking ones are still a bit tender.”

Skye looked away from her sister, playing with the hem of her own pajama shirt as she shifted around nervously. “I have some cream that’ll help the scars fade. I mean, they’ll still be there, just not as noticeable as they are now.”

Brie reached out and held her sister’s hands to stop them from fidgeting. “Thank you Skye. Would you mind putting it on for me?” she asked as she moved over to her bed, raising her shirt up to just above her shoulders as she laid down.

Skye nodded quickly before moving over to her bedside table drawer to retrieve the cream and climbed on to her sister’s bed, kneeling beside Brie to apply the cream to the marred, tender skin. “I’ll only apply it to the older ones for now. The newer ones are still too new and need more time to heal.”

Brie nodded her head. She could feel her eyes drooping at the soft rubbing on her back, sinking down into the softness of her mattress.

Skye stopped after noticing her sister’s deep, even breaths. She really didn’t want to wake her sister, but this was too important to wait any longer and she wanted to say it before Eliot came in here.

She softly nudged her sister until Brie’s eyes opened. “Brie, I’m sorry to wake you but I have something to tell you and it’s very important and I can’t hold it in anymore.”

That got Brie’s attention. She sat up, pulling her shirt down as she went, and propped herself up against the headboard, motioning for Skye to join her. “Okay, what’s on your mind?”

Skye tried very hard to keep back the tears, but she wasn’t very successful. “I don’t know how to tell you this, so I’ll just come right out and say it. After you were taken, I started using. I know, it was stupid of me because I saw what they did to you.” She noticed her sister’s wide eyed stare and rolled her eyes. “Oh come on. You’re my sister, of course I knew you were using. There was no way you could hide that from me. From father, yes, but from me? No way.”

“Anyway, I don’t know how, but daddy found out, threw everything out and forced me into rehab. I realize how stupid I was, but I was so heartbroken at the time and I needed an out. I’ve been clean now for over a year.”

Brie stared at her sister in shock. She couldn’t believe that she had been so careless back then with her using that her sister caught on and ended up following in her footsteps. And now Brie was itching for a hit, but she had nothing and couldn’t take anything. She would not risk the life of her child. But maybe she could start again once the baby was born.

Brie pulled her sister into her side and held her as she cried until Skye eventually fell asleep. Brie wasn’t so tired anymore as she held Skye and just watched her sleep. It’d been so long since she saw her sister and she was going to savor this moment for as long as she could because she wasn’t sure what was going to happen with Damien once she went back.

She started stroking through Skye’s hair and zoned out for a little bit, not thinking about anything. It was nice to let go of reality for a little bit and daydream about her life to come. Brie was pulled out of her fantasies by the sound of her door opening and Eliot standing in the doorway.

Eliot took in the sight before him before smiling fondly, thinking about their future when she would do this for their daughter after a bad break up or for some mother-daughter bonding time.

“You’re gonna be a great mom, you know that?” he asked her as he moved toward his fiancée’s bed.

Brie smiled softly as she looked down at her baby sister, still stroking through Skye’s hair. “Well, I had a lot of practice. I practically raised us both. I can’t wait until he or she gets here. And just for the record, you’re gonna make an amazing dad. Our future daughter will probably be single her entire life if you have it your way.” She said, chuckling.

Eliot wrapped himself around Brie’s other side and kissed her temple. “Damn straight. So, you’re dad told me about your family history.”

Brie snorted. “Nice transition there partner. Did he tell you everything about me?”

Eliot shook his head. “No. All he would tell me was that you did some things in your teenage years without using your better judgment. I think he wanted you to tell me yourself, but only if you’re ready to. I don’t mind waiting.”

Brie nodded her head, thankful that her fiancé was so understanding and patient with her that he was willing to wait made her so glad that she was going to marry this man. “Thank you and I promise that I won’t make you wait for very long.”

Skye shifted in her sister’s arms and her eyes fluttered open and saw Eliot sitting behind her sister. “Ugh, if you’re going to sleep here, keep your hands on your own twin. If I wake up and find out that your hand is on my ass, I will not hesitate to break some fingers. Am I understood?”

A flicker of fear shot through Eliot, but he held it back from showing on his face as he met Skye glare for glare. “Understood.”

Brie rolled her eyes and lied back down, pulling Eliot with her and wrapped his arms around her. “Don’t take everything she says to heart. She always was like this when she’s sleep deprived. You’ll be fine. Besides, you’ll know if you’re holding Skye’s ass. Hers isn’t as firm and perky as mine.”

She laughed as Skye smacked her with a pillow and her muffled reply, “I didn’t want to exercise by the use of a stripper pole to get that ass. I like mine just the way it is thank you very much.”

Eliot looked at both girls incredulously and sighed exasperatedly. Well, you can’t help who you fall in love with and he wouldn’t trade this young woman for anything. He stroked his fingers through Brie’s hair and watched as the both of them drifted off to sleep. Eliot stayed awake a little while longer, pondering on all he’d learned today before he too followed them into dreamland.


	10. Chapter 10

Gregory was very grateful to Eliot for keeping his daughter safe and alive. He was also grateful that the man did not take advantage of her, unlike that piece of shit excuse of a human being. He was glad that Damien Worthington was going to be brought to justice, but he just wished that it didn’t have to come at the expense of his daughter.

Gregory rubbed his forehead and began to regret every decision he ever made regarding his girls. He wished that he spent more time with them instead of putting them in the care of numerous nannies. What kind of a father was he to do that to his girls? Gregory knew that this wouldn’t change anything, but since he had gotten sick he was going to spend as much time with his daughters as he possibly could.

That first year after Brie had disappeared, he started to get sick. Greg saw his personal physician and the prognosis wasn’t what he was expecting. He couldn’t figure out how he got heart disease. He was a healthy guy. He ate right, exercised, and got plenty of fresh air. He drank lots of water, had one cup of coffee in the morning, a cup of tea in the afternoon, and a glass of wine with dinner once a week and on special occasions.

He went back to the doctor last week and was told that he now had congestive heart failure. The doctor assured him that it could be treated, but not forever and seeing that they caught it early on, he had a good chance of living a good couple of years. Gregory sat at his desk and looked at a picture of his beautiful wife and daughters. He picked up the frame and looked at the date inscribed there, September 5, 1993. The twins were just born and that was the second happiest day of his life.

The second unhappiest day of his life came on October 14, 1997 when he lost his beloved wife to breast cancer. Julianna was so young when she died. That was a dark day for their family. Julianna Alayna Giovanni-Matthews was buried in Italy where they lived up until the time the girls were fourteen. Gregory still had no idea where we went wrong in raising his daughters. He could not believe all the trouble Brielle and Skylar got into. Brie was notorious for using her naturally good looks to get whatever she wanted; which came back and bit her in the ass for getting arrested for underage prostitution.

Skylar was very beautiful as well, but she liked to get her hands dirty. The both of them have criminal records, but Skylar’s had a long list for theft, assault and battery and breaking and entering charges for both Skye and Brie combined. Brie was a tough cookie and could take you down in a fight by herself, but if both the Matthews sisters were involved, well then, you were lucky to still be alive. Both girls have been kicked out of most of the private schools that they’d been to because they always started a fight or always got involved in fights.

No matter how many times they’d been sent to juvenile detention centers, lectured at home, and grounded; they never learned their lesson. Wherever they went, their bad reputations followed. They never had any friends because they were deemed a ‘bad influence’. Brie earned herself a reputation of sleeping around with anyone who was willing. Skye had the knack of sticking her nose where it didn’t belong. Their peers were cruel to them, calling Brie a whore and Skye a bully. Which, Gregory guessed, explained their behavior a little bit.

They were outcasts in their own category and none of the other outcasts wanted anything to do with them. That was fine with Brie and Skye. All they ever needed was each other anyway. That was all in the past now. And Gregory could see a difference in his girls now than the rebellious troublemakers they used to be.

As Gregory sat at his desk, pondering about his daughters, Ellie came in with his breakfast. “Here you go Mr. Matthews. Is there anything else I can get for you?” Greg shook his head and dismissed her before he started to eat.

Skye, Brie and Eliot were still sleeping when they heard a knock at the door. Skye turned over in the bed and yelled, “Go away! It’s too fucking early to do anything!” she snuggled back down into the bed and went back to sleep.

Greg entered the room and paused at the scene before him. Skye was lying by herself, but still near her sister. Brie was wrapped around Eliot like an octopus as he had his arms wrapped securely around her. Gregory walked over to Skye first. “Skylar, come on. It’s time to get up.”

Skye opened her eyes a crack and groaned. “What have I told you about waking me up before daybreak?”

Gregory chuckled. “Come on, you’ve got your kickboxing training this morning.”

Skye groaned again as she rolled out of bed. She glared and pointed at her father. “You’re damn lucky that I love this sport or else I’d still be in that really warm bed.” She went to her closet to get dressed for her training.

Gregory looked at his eldest daughter. He had a smile on his face and he quietly left the room. Once Skye was dressed and ready to go, she noticed that the two lovebirds were still asleep. Skye left quietly, letting her sister sleep as much as she could.

Brie finally woke up four hours later, still wrapped up in Eliot’s arms. She glanced over at her alarm clock and it read a quarter til eleven. She shook Eliot gently awake, not wanting to spook the man. “Babe, wake up.”

Eliot startled awake, pulling Brie closer to him in case there was a threat of danger. “Huh, what’s wrong? Are you okay?”

She giggled at his discombobulatedness. “Yeah, I’m fine. It’s a quarter til eleven. Time to get up.”

Eliot wiped his hand over his face to wake himself up more. “Really? Huh, wow. We better get going then.”

She got up and headed toward her bathroom. “Alright but I’m taking a shower first.”

Eliot nodded and laid back in her bed. A few minutes later, Skye walked back into the bedroom. “Man, there ain’t nothing like a good workout to wake me up in the morning.” She looked toward her sister’s bed and noticed that Eliot was awake. “Hey van Winkle, you’re finally awake. Where’s Brie?”

Eliot pointed toward the bathroom. “Van Winkle? Really? You do know that he slept for twenty years and not for ten hours right?”

Skye giggled and headed for her own bathroom. Eliot sat on the bed and looked around the room, trying to get a sense of what Brie was like before they met. Before long, he started to get bored and he’ll never understand why he started talking to Hardison. “Hey Hardison, what’s going on over there?”

Hardison was working through everything they found after going through Damien’s office when he was surprised to hear Eliot over the comms. “Nothing much really. Except for the fact that I now have to sort through more documents that Parker lifted from Worthington’s office and prepare everything else to make sure that we are ready to destroy this guy while you get to go off and play happy family. By the way, how did it go with the in-laws?”

Eliot could tell that the hacker was under some stress, but that wasn’t anything new. They’d all been under stress during this whole job. “It was awkward at first, but they eventually warmed up to me. Her dad hated me at first actually, but he at least tolerates me now.”

Hardison was about to answer the hitter when out of the corner of his eye, he caught Parker trying to steal something. “Parker, put that back.”

She pouted and lovingly caressed the object that caught her eye. “But it’s pretty and shiny and valuable.” Parker had that look in her eye that she got whenever she wanted to steal something she really wanted.

Eliot knew this look all too well and he wasn’t even in the same room as her. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Parker, put it back. You already have more than enough pretty, shiny, valuable things. You don’t need anymore.”

Parker huffed. “Fine, _dad._ I’ll put it back.”

Hardison started laughing softly. “Dude, you should’ve seen her face when she said that. That was priceless.”

Eliot scowled and laughed humorlessly. “Oh ha ha. I thought I was supposed to be the older brother in this weird, messed up family.”

Parker came back. “You are, but sometimes you act like a dad. Which I guess is fitting since you’re gonna be one soon.”

Eliot couldn’t help but smile at that. He’d been doing that a lot lately whereas he’d only smirk a bit when Hardison did something stupid and embarrassing or when he needed to put on a fake smile to charm a mark or be a distraction. He couldn’t remember the last time he genuinely had a smile on his face. But ever since Brie came into his life, he couldn’t stop smiling.

“Yeah, I am aren’t I? Honestly, I never thought that it would happen for me. I was prepared to live the life I do now for as long as I could until my past eventually caught up to me.”

Brie’s bathroom door opened and she walked out with no towel on, except for the one twisted up in her hair. Eliot stayed quiet and watched as she got dressed.

Hardison heard Eliot go quiet and figured that Brie had walked into the room. “Oh, sure. Just ignore me whenever yo girl walks into the room. Dat’s cool man, I mean, it’s not like we were talking about anything important. Is it so hard to have a conversation with me?”

Eliot kept listening to Hardison ramble on and on until he got fed up with him. “Shut up Hardison! I get it alright! Dammit!”

Brie looked over at Eliot’s outburst and tried to hide her snicker. “Is Hardison giving you a hard time?”

Eliot rolled his eyes and heard Hardison yell into his comm. “Me, giving you a hard time? Woman, he started talkin’ to me!”

Eliot had to stop him. “She can’t hear you Hardison! Stop talking, you’re giving me a headache!”

Brie was enjoying the show as she pulled on her underwear when Skye exited her own bathroom at the exact same time. She wasn’t worried that Eliot would stare at her sister because she knew that Eliot wasn’t that kind of guy.

Skye disappeared into her closet and returned a few minutes later and climbed in next to Eliot and started to dry her hair. “What’cha doin?”

Eliot looked at Skye, wondering when she got there, before looking back over at Brie. “Just waiting for her to get dressed so we can get going.”

Brie stuck her tongue out at him as she pulled her skirt up. She turned around to inspect her back and frowned. “Skye, will you put some more of that stuff on my back please?”

Skye threw her towel in the hamper and retrieved the scar cream and applied it to Brie’s back.

Brie finished getting ready and pulled the towel from her head to dry her hair, running a brush through it to get out all the knots. She put on her shoes and looked at her fiancé and sister. “Okay, let’s go.”

Everyone left the room and headed toward the front of the house, pausing by their father’s office so they could tell him good-bye.


End file.
